Libby Lloyd AM was a finalist in the 2012 ACT of the Year Awards, recognised for her work in the areas of refugee and women's issues.

Her CV is something to behold - through it, Alex explains as she introduces Libby, runs the theme of a deeply caring and committed person, one who wants the world to be a better place.

"How fortunate we are in Australia," remarks Libby, "we are blessed with everything that helps support us."

"We have stable government, strong civil society, we have safety in our community, I mean we are just so lucky."

"And you realise once you start moving around the world that you are actually in the minority."

"And even worse" she goes on "what we so often grizzle about, are really things that are completely inconsequentially."

On the road

Libby Lloyd has come to this realisation after a lifetime of travelling.

Her story begins in Perth, and she describes her childhood as "happy and safe."

Perth wasn't to remain Libby's home though, as she left to study psychiatry and occupational therapy in Melbourne.

But Libby wasn't to stay long in Australia, growing up in the era where "young girls would take off" to Europe or Asia.

Libby travelled to England, where she ended up working on a political campaign.

"I knew about the Wigs and the Tories but I wasn't a very political person....however I was always up for an adventure so I said why not!"

Libby laughs and said while it taught her many organisational skills, it also taught her not to go into politics.

It was England where she met her husband to be, Peter, an Australian on a scholarship at Oxford.

When they returned to Canberra, he joined the Foreign Affairs department and so began a life of living overseas on several postings.

A family abroad

When their first daughter Justine was just 5 months old they were posted to Cairo, not long after the 6 day war between Israel and Egypt.

"Supplies were quite difficult, I remember we went with a suitcase of Carnation milk cans" laughs Libby.

Libby also comments that the posting was quite challenging.

"It was very stark to go and live in the Middle East at that time, while there was an enormous amount on offer; it was so hard to navigate when you were young and with a first child."

The diplomatic community was quite small, and there weren't many tourists, so Libby threw herself into getting to know the locals.

"There was the whole Egyptian population to become friends with, and soon we had some wonderful friends and some wonderful experiences, we had a very lovely local life."

Libby says this time was very influential in shaping her beliefs.

"Once you go and immerse yourself in a non-English speaking environment, and one culturally so incredibly different, it challenges so many of your beliefs."

From Cairo they went to Vienna, which was a complete door opening to music and opera and the delights of a really old European city.

Libby and Peter's second child was born in Vienna, and very shortly afterwards their third child was born in Canberra.

Does she blame the Opera? Libby just laughs.

When they returned to Canberra in 1976, after a posting in Poland, her children were school aged so it became possible to re-engage in formal work.

Back to work

Woden Community Services had begun not long before that, and soon Libby became involved by setting up a Toy Library.

From there she became interested in women's services, and worked hard to get more childcare services into Canberra.

"For women it was huge", Libby explains.

She was asked to set up Family Day Care, and soon started the first Family Day care services in Tuggeranong Valley, as there had been none up until that point.

This led onto other projects, such as setting up a playgroup for mothers with children with a disability and an International women's group where women from non-English speaking backgrounds could meet each other.

"It was a time when things had started to grow in the community."

The next posting took Libby away from this work, and she went with Peter to Indonesia in 1979, a time she describes as incredible.

"Because I'd been so active working with kids (in Canberra), I thought well I'll talk to UNICEF, but nothing jumped out quickly."

But then a United Nations High Commission for Refugees representative asked if she would work with him, as the population of refugees had gone from two thousand to 48 thousand in a very short time.

The refugees, many from Indo-China and Vietnam, were very dispersed across Indonesian islands.

"The children were dying, people didn't know where they were, there was no support, so he came to me and asked if I could help."

She volunteered initially, but eventually she became one of the UNCHR staff.

The rights stuff

"We set up services, we had to put in buildings, we had to put in camps, really we had to put in a whole range of services. "

Libby Lloyd considers the contrast with the response of governments to refugees back at that time, compared to the response now from governments.

"The thing that was different was that the world focused on this....we had at that point 48 countries that were providing resettlement options...the whole world was engaged."

"I think what it really says is how much better it is when we engage as a region....and how difficult it is to do it as a lone recipient country. "

From Indonesia they went back to Australia, but by 1989 they were posted to Iraq.

Iraq

They thought they were lucky, going after a war but "little did we realise we were between wars."

It was under the time of Saddam Hussein, and on the second of August, 1990, Saddam entered Kuwait and, says Libby, "our lives changed."

"It was a very tense time, and a very difficult time for an embassy" remembers Libby.

The borders were immediately closed for three weeks, and so there was a large community of Australians that were stranded.

A lot of people became dependent on the embassy, so the embassy was opened to them to use as a home.

Libby was very impressed with the way the Australians stuck in Iraq cared for each other.

"They set up a wonderful system of caring for each other, and supporting each other because it was quite a difficult time."

It really made Libby strengthen her belief that it is so important to engage with our governments, and "that we take a role in how our countries operate."

Libby Lloyd was our final Canberra Close Up for 2012, and what a way to finish what's been an incredible year of conversations with Alex Sloan.

The songs featured on Canberra Close Up today included:

Djisziaj w Betlejem (Today in Bethlehem)

Deux Nocturnes Opus 27 in D flat major by Chopin, played by Roger Woodward

Libby Lloyd, member of the Council for Australian Arab Relations (CAAR) and the Ministerial Advisory Council for Asylum Seekers and Detention (MACASD). She is Patron of the Indigo Foundation which supports grassroots community development internationally and Patron of the Gold Coast Centre for Sexual Assault. Libby is a past President of UNIFEM in Australia (the United Nations Development Fund for Women - now merged into UN Women) and is a founding and continuing Board Member of the White Ribbon Foundation.
(Gabrielle Rumble - ABC)